


The Meaning of the Word

by joudama



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-19
Updated: 2010-07-19
Packaged: 2017-10-10 16:11:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/101627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joudama/pseuds/joudama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, having a limited vocabulary is a good thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Meaning of the Word

It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Split up, one of them get the info and the other set the bomb. Meet back at the entrance and then detonate the place. Simple plan, because simplest was usually best.

In this case, the important part was "usually."

Rude considered himself lucky; he had gotten the bomb in place and set before he had been set upon by terrorists. If he'd still had the bomb, he would, in all likelihood, be a lot more dead.

It was a near thing, though.

He managed to kill them, but not, unfortunately, before they had radioed in for backup.

This, Rude thought with a sigh, really wasn't looking very good.

His PHS buzzed suddenly, and he fished it out of his breast pocket, biting his lip to keep the hiss of pain inside. "Yes."

"Yo, slowass, where the fuck are ya?" Reno said, sounding far too cheerful. "Weren't we supposed ta meet, ya know, couple minutes ago? I'm usually the late one, yo."

"I was detained," Rude said, and he could almost _see_ Reno narrowing his eyes as something gave Rude away.

"You all right, man? You don't sound too good,"

"I've been better," Rude said, pressing a hand tight against his ribs to try and stop the bleeding. "Did you get the documents?"

"Yeah. Got 'em right here in my hot little hands. How much longer you think you're gonna be?"

Rude frowned, looking down at the blood staining his clothes, for once _his_.

"Our top priority is getting those documents back to ShinRa."

"An' that wasn't what I asked," Reno said, and Rude bit back a smile, knowing the look Reno surely had on his face, the "Stop being a dumbass, dumbass" look, complete with raised eyebrow.

"The bomb is in place, but the terrorists have called for reinforcements. They know we're here. So take the documents back and I'll detonate the bombs after you've left."

Reno's response was a long string of curses, so loud and vitriolic that Rude pulled the phone away from his ear until they stopped.

"An' _don't go nowhere_, dumbass" Reno ended, and hung up.

Rude sighed, slouched against a wall, called for backup, and waited.

"You look like shit, yo," Reno said, and Rude cracked an eye open.

"The terrorists' beauty regime, unfortunately, leaves something to be desired," he said, giving Reno a faint smile, and he was rewarded by something tight and wound up in Reno loosening just the tiniest bit.

"Yeah, red's not your color," Reno said, hauling Rude's arm over his shoulder. "Let's blow this popstand so we can blow this popstand, yeah?"

"Yeah," Rude said, nodding.

"Call for backup?" Reno asked, settling Rude against him.

"Called for backup," Rude said, nodding and trying to keep back a small wince. That bullet in his gut was not appreciating him moving at all, and was making that clear in no uncertain terms.

They'd only made it a quarter of the way back before Rude realized that this just wasn't going to work. If Reno left now, he could easily get back to Midgar. And if the terrorists captured Rude here, they would either kill him or keep him as a hostage/bargaining chip, and if they did that, they would have to Cure him, and if they did _that_, well, he was as good as free.

...And if they were going to kill him, well, no sense in _both_ of them getting killed.

But he only got as far as opening his mouth to tell Reno again to go on without him before Reno cut him off. "Shaddup 'fore ya even start," Reno said, shooting Rude a lopsided grin. "I ain't gonna just leave ya here, yo. Either we both get out or we both get caught, and I dunno 'bout you, but I ain't got no plans to bite the big one here. Or get caught, 'cause, see, we get caught, an' Tseng has to come get us, an' then we _never_ live it down."

"Odin forbid that," Rude said, managing a weak smile and tasting the blood in his mouth.

They hadn't gotten too much farther when the backup the terrorists had called for showed up. Reno dived off to the side behind some boxes of stolen armaments, taking Rude with him. Rude hauled himself into a sitting position, clutching his side tightly as Reno rolled into a crouch.

"Hey, yeah, so, don't go nowhere," Reno said with one of his sharp grins. He pulled out his baton and stood up, tapping it against his shoulder as if he had all the time in the world and the advantage of numbers, and Rude could just imagine the lazy smile Reno was sure to have on his face as he walked out to meet the terrorists.

That lazy stance and smile were honed and perfected, as much as weapon as the electrified baton--it meant you never saw Reno's speed coming. When Reno moved, he moved like one Hasted, and even if you were expecting it, you weren't _expecting_ it.

The terrorists had heard the rumors, of course--Reno's reputation for speed preceded him--but there was still a large gap between the reputation and reality, and reputation couldn't keep up.

When he finished with them, Reno's eyes were bright and his face flushed, a maniac grin on his face, as if he was living it up instead of fighting for both their lives.

But then again, this was Reno. That very well might be the very definition of "living it up" for him, Rude thought with a faint smile, then bit back a wince and fought down the urge to throw up as everything went hazy.

"Let's roll, yo," Reno said, still cued up and eyes all but gleaming from adrenaline, but there was blood on his face and Rude could see the signs already of fatigue, that Reno was running on adrenaline and not much else, and he could feel faint tremors as he leaned against him.

"Reno," Rude said softly. There were too many terrorists and they had too far to go. There was loyalty and then there was futility, and Rude knew all too well what side of things this was on. "Leave me here and get the documents back to HQ."

There was a long pause before Reno shook his head, the motion so faint Rude almost missed it. "Partners, yo," was all Reno said, his voice oddly quiet and serious, and Rude felt something relax; let himself lean a little more on Reno's narrow frame.

"Partners," Rude said back--because if there was one person who had never learned the meaning of the word "futility" it was "Oh, you an' your big words, what, d'you swallow a dictionary or somethin'?" Reno--and smiled.

Half of the way there, one foot in front of the other, and Rude figured for a little while, he could forget the meaning of that word, too.


End file.
